"We have just, as we did with torture from 2002 to 2007, 2008, as we substantiated for the world that torture was OK, we have now OK’d the killing of recognized members of other states’ government. That’s what Soleimani was, no matter how heinous we may paint him... We have become the law of the jungle, rather than, as we have been since 1945, the greatest supporter of international law and the rule of law in general across the face of the globe. With torture and with killing other state recognized individuals of their government, we have become the tiger, the lion, the bear, the alligator in that jungle. It’s not a very, very good precedent to have set, as the Russians indicated. The Chinese have said similar things. It’s a terrible precedent to have set. America exists today to make war. How else do we interpret 19 straight years of war and no end in sight? It’s part of who we are. It’s part of what the American Empire is. We are going to lie, cheat and steal, as Pompeo is doing right now, as Trump is doing right now, as Tom Cotton is doing right now, and a host of other members of my political party, the Republicans, are doing right now. We are going to cheat and steal to do whatever it is we have to do to continue this war complex. That’s the truth of it. And that’s the agony of it."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Activists from the United StatesAcademics from the United StatesPhilosophers from the United StatesMilitary leaders from the United StatesUnited States federal government officials
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Col. Lawrence Wilkerson: Qassem Soleimani Worked with U.S. in Fight Against Taliban & ISIS, Democracy Now, (6 January 2020)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lawrence_Wilkerson
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Lawrence Wilkerson
43 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Lawrence Wilkerson →
Related Quotes
"Just over a month ago, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said that the administration …"
"I don’t give the leadership in the Pentagon a lot of credit for smarts these days either—not the chairman, not the Jo…"
"My party, unfortunately, is the bastion of those people, not all of them, but most of them, who are still basing thei…"
"I think Snowden has done a service... I wouldn’t have had the courage, and maybe not even the intellectual capacity, …"
"As I look back at our lock-step march toward war with Iraq, I realize that it didn’t seem to matter to us that we use…"
"So all of this right now, first and foremost, is a budget ploy. They want more money. ...The military just hooks up, …"
"There are several dimensions to the debate over the U.S. prison facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba that the media hav…"
"The real reason for his (Senator Jim DeMint) and other politicians’– including some Democrats–reasoning with regard t…"
"A single senator’s ability to effect such holds is lunacy gone amuck in any regard; but Jim DeMint gives that state o…"
"If I have any disdain for a particular political party in the Congress of the United States other than the Republican…"